Chapter Text
Chapter One
It had been seven months since the guys had headed south and Beth was struggling with the distance between her and Rip. Sure she had flown to see him on numerous occasions, even spending weekends in his tent living the cowboy life just for that extra time but it wasn’t the same as having her husband by her side.
Today however the group would be returning home. Earlier than expected but weather was on their side and the 6666’s had provided some unexpected help to make things easier financially on the ranch.
Beth knew the guys wouldn’t be retuning until this evening, but she still woke as the sun rose with excitement in her belly. Sat on the porch, cigarette in one hand and coffee in the other. She smiled into the air.
“Morning” Carter spoke, his voice still sleepy. “Your up early”
Beth pulled round another chair, encouraging Carter to sit for a moment before heading to the barn.
“You okay baby?” She asked softly, sensing an unease in the young man.
“Yeah…I couldn’t sleep”
“Something bothering you?” Beth asked softly, blowing the smoke from her cigarette away from Carter.
“I messed up”
Beth frowned, she couldn’t imagine what Carter had done to cause him such worry.
“What did you do?”
Carter looked up at Beth, his big brown eyes wide and innocent.
“Lloyd gave me instruction yesterday, to get the horses saddled, I started doing it but I erm…I got distracted and missed the fasting in Lloyds.” Carter sighed and looked down at his hands. “Lloyd went to get on and fell back, he hit his head pretty hard”
“Was he okay?” Beth asked worriedly.
“He swore a lot but said he was fine. He shouted at me, told me I was good for nothing and made me clean the stalls all day”
Beth felt a bubble of anger build at Lloyds choice of words but the ranchers daughter in her knew the tough love take no prisoners approach was only just with best interest.
“I deserved to be punished mucking out the stalls but Lloyd said he will tell Rip. I thought Rip would be gone a few more months and Lloyd might forget about it and I could make it up to him and Rip wouldn’t find out. Now Rips going to come back and be pissed off because of me”
Beth smiled softly, she hated to see Carter upset but she knew the worry he felt about disappointing Rip was because he cares so much about the older man’s approval. To know they were at that point in their relationship warmed Beth’s heart.
“Hey, Rip won’t be mad”
Carter peered up, eyebrow raised questionably.
“Okay maybe he will be mad but only because he cares.” Beth laughed.
“He told me to look after things here, to look after you. I don’t want to disappoint him”
Warmth spread throughout Beth’s body as she imagined Rip giving Carter a lecture on looking after his favourite ranch and her.
“You’ve done a great job looking after me baby, Lloyd might not say anything so don’t stress. Maybe get down there now and triple heck the saddles then get on with clearing the stalls and Lloyd will see you made a mistake and your learning from it”
Carter smiled and thanked Beth, giving her a brief hug before running off to the barn. Beth watched on proudly, grateful for the young man in her life.
“Morning sweetheart” John said as he took a seat in the vacated chair next to Beth.
“Morning daddy”
“Is that Carter running in the distance”
“It is, he’s got some making up to do” Beth informed vaguely.
“What did he do?” John asked as he sipped his coffee.
Beth smiled, she didn’t think Lloyd would tell Rip of Carters mistake, especially if her dad was unaware. She liked Lloyd, respected him. She knew he was tough on the kid because he wanted him to be successful like Rip.
“Nothing that can’t be fixed”
John nodded and took another sip of his coffee.
“You excited for Rip to get home?”
“Hell yeah! We won’t be sleeping much tonight if you know what I mean” Beth quipped cheekily.
John groaned
“Beth, I don’t need to know”
“Sorry daddy, I’m just excited it’s been so long”
“You visited him three weeks ago”
Beth shot a glare at her father, a tilt of her head and a cheeky smirk crossed her face.
“Daddy, three weeks is far too long for a loving husband and wife to be waiting before having sex. Your sex drive may have dried up but mine hasn’t”
“Beth” John warned.
“Sorry dad but a girl has needs”
“I am aware, I just don’t need to know about them”
“It’s your fault anyway”
John wished he hadn’t bothered sitting down this morning, knowing full well what his unpredictable daughter could be like.
“Hunny, we went over this”
“You didn’t have to let Rip do the whole stint, Lloyd could have covered”
“Sweetheart, do you really think Rip would have agreed to that?”
Beth knew John was probably right, the proudness and responsibility Rip held prevented him saying no to a lot of things.
“If you had suggested it he would have at least known it was okay”
“Look sweetheart, I’m sorry this had to happen, I know it’s been hard on you but he’s home tonight and hopefully we won’t ever have to have this happen again”
Beth nodded stood from her chair, kissing her father’s forehead as she saunted back inside for more coffee.
Evening came round soon enough and all the cowboys, Beth, Carter, John and Kayce gathered to greet those returning.
The trucks pulled in one behind the other, dust clouds settling behind each trailer.
Beth could barely contain her excitement, her feet shifting and she squinted into the evening sun for her man.
Cowboys tumbled from the cars, rushing over to the other half of their trusted group, hugging and cheering at being reunited. Teeter and Colby embracing and kissing while the others jeered like teenagers.
“There he is!” Carter yelled as he hit footed his way over to Rip, stopping abruptly to look back at Beth unsure if he should let her greet him first.
Beth sensed Carters hesitation but nodded for him to continue, smiling with tears in her eyes as Carter and Rip embraced.
“Good to see you mate” Rip said, as he ruffled the boys mop of curls.
“Glad your home” Carter grinned genuinely, both slightly taken aback at the emotion that came over the two.
Beth stopped just shy of her boys, giving them a moment to hug it out before Carter raced off to the cowboys.
“Miss me?” Rip smirked.
Beths breath hitched as she took in her man. His rugged good looks making her heart flutter, his skin looked more tan than usual, his nose slightly red. He stood with his award winning smile waiting for her to speak.
“Erm..” Beth mustered the inaudible sound, her composure crumbling fast.
Rip sensed Beth was overwhelmed and pulled her into his arms, his embrace instantly causing her body to relax. He brushed her hair out her face, stroking her cheek softly as she allowed herself a moment to sob in relief.
“I missed you so much” she finally choked out.
Rip held her face between his large hands, thumbing away the last of the tears, her eyes still glassy.
“Darlin you ain’t got to miss me no more”